


What It Takes

by mukeclemmings



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Demisexuality, M/M, demisexual!calum, fratboy!luke
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-25
Updated: 2015-09-12
Packaged: 2018-04-01 05:29:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4007641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mukeclemmings/pseuds/mukeclemmings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Wait, wait, wait. <i>You don't like sex?</i> How can you not like sex?"</p>
<p>And, it's not that Calum doesn't like sex, Calum is very sure that he would like sex in the right situation. It's just, Calum doesn't like intimacy with just anyone, and he <i>definitely</i> doesn't like intimacy with the douchebag fratboy that broke his best friend's heart.</p>
<p>Or, so he thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi y'all! It's been a while since I've written fiction, so I'm afraid I'm a little rusty! Nonetheless, I am so excited for this fic and I hope you like it! :D  
> I really wanted to incorporate demisexuality into this fic because I know a lot of people are very unfamiliar with it (including me), and by no means am I an expert now! I am trying my best to accurately portray it, with the help of [thesoulsailor](http://mikeykink.tumblr.com).  
> I was also inspired by the song [This Is What It Takes by Shawn Mendes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH9yOEAylKg).
> 
> This is a work of fiction...in case you were unsure.
> 
> _for curly_

Calum sat at his desk underneath the lofted bed in his dorm room. His laptop was centered on the desktop, his fingers frozen atop the keyboard as he contemplated what to type next. A half-eaten turkey sandwich was to the left of the computer, a cup of Ramen noodles and a glass of iced tea to the right. Calum readjusted the glasses on his nose before glancing over his shoulder at the door, as if looking at the slab of wood would make Ashton walk through it any faster. The clock on the desk said ‘3:53 AM’ and Calum was beginning to feel like the father in a teenage romance film, waiting for his daughter to get home from a date - except he was waiting for his roommate to return from a party, instead. Realizing that Ashton may not even come home tonight - or, _this morning_ \- at this rate, Calum decided to attempt to get some sleep. He and Ashton both had to be at the quad in about four hours to promote the upcoming dinner they were organizing to help support the local animal shelter.

Calum shut his laptop, pulled off his t-shirt, and climbed into his bed. His growing concern for his roommate was easily put to rest as Calum’s eyes immediately drooped closed. Just as he began to drift off to sleep, the dorm room door creaked open.

A moment passed before a tiny voice, barely above a whisper, came, “Cal?”

And, yeah. Calum was mad. Relieved, but mad. So, he didn’t respond.

“Calum?” Ashton tried again. Calum could tell that something was off with his friend, Ashton was known for his loud and excited persona, and _this_ Ashton seemed the opposite.

Calum stayed quiet, and thought that Ashton had given up and was going to go to bed himself. However, then a mess of light brown hair popped up over the side of Calum’s bed, and Ashton pulled himself completely into the bed, quickly burrowing underneath the covers and up against Calum’s body. Calum let out a deep sigh, but wrapped his arms around his roommate and let the boy rest his head on his shoulder.

Ashton sniffled and then two tears quickly dropped onto Calum’s collarbone, one right after the other like they’d been sitting on Ashton’s cheek, waiting for the right moment to alert Calum of Ashton’s emotional distress.

“What’s wrong?” Calum whispered.

“He’s an asshole, Cal,” Ashton balled up his fist and brought it down against Calum’s chest, not powerful enough to hurt the other boy, but strong enough to signal that he was clearly upset.

“What happened?”

“Luke!” Ashton practically screamed, furiously wiping away the tears on his cheeks with the back of his hand.

Calum didn’t know the details, but he was certain that Luke has screwed over Ashton in some way. He wanted to say, “ _I told you so_ ,” wanted to reiterate what he’d been telling Ashton all along, but he knew that would only hurt Ashton worse in this moment, so Calum just pulled Ashton closer and let him cry until they both fell asleep.

-

It was...chilly. Okay, it was fucking cold. But, Luke was from Sydney and it was, like, _October,_ so. How could Luke be blamed for anticipating it be warm outside? He _was_ in his second year of university in New York, he probably should’ve known that the weather was different here, but, whatever. Luke had bigger problems than worrying about forgetting his coat back in the house. He was running late, _who the hell had planned a party on a Tuesday night_? He had to make it all the way across campus in two minutes to make it to class on time. This also meant that he hadn’t had time to get his coffee, a morning routine that, if missed, could throw off his entire day. On top of all of that, he could see a group of students up ahead who were forcing flyers onto anyone who passed by, and Luke couldn’t take a different route if he wanted any chance of making it to class on time. Luke put his head down and headed forward as fast as he could without jogging.

“Excuse me! We’re holding a dinner in Kearse Hall on Friday night to raise money for the Humane Society!” Luke heard a man’s voice call out to him.

He continued on in hopes that the man wasn’t pushy and would not pursue him. Luke was not so lucky.

A hand roughly grabbed onto his upper arm, spinning him around.

“What the hell?” was Luke’s first reaction, because normal people didn’t just attack students for ignoring them.

“Look, asshole. I’m freezing my balls off too, but I fucking care about these dogs so I’m standing out here anyway. The least you could do is take a fucking flyer,” the man snarled, shoving one of the flyers into Luke’s chest.

Luke grabbed onto the piece of paper with both hands, taken aback by the aggressive nature of the dark haired man in front of him, but also a bit intrigued by the black lettering - presumably initials? - that were inked on both of the man’s hands between his thumb and pointer finger.

“Let him go, Cal,” another one of the students gritted out, pulling back on ‘Cal’ by the hood of his jacket, and - _oh shit_.

“Uh, hey, Ashton,” Luke greeted awkwardly, now having run into last night’s hookup that hadn’t exactly ended on a high note.

“Luke,” Ashton replied meekly, averting his gaze to the ground.

“Wait, _you’re_ Luke?” the dark haired man spat out, his scowl somehow intensifying.

Luke stepped in front of the man and tried to block him from Luke’s view. “Cal, don’t do this.”

The ‘Cal’ guy reached out and yanked the flyer from Luke’s grip. “Stay away from Ashton, and you can stay away from the fundraiser. The animals don’t need help from douchebags like you.”

He then crossed his arms in front of his chest and turned around to face away from Luke. It was a childish gesture, but Luke still felt a pang of guilt.

Ashton continued looking at Luke with wide, watery eyes and this was…uncomfortable. What was he supposed to say? Whatever. Luke had to get to class anyway.

 

 

Luke had barely thought about the encounter throughout the entirety of his accounting class. Okay, that was a lie. Luke couldn’t stop thinking of the dark haired man. _Cal._ Was he always angry? Was he even really angry or was that just the way his face looks? Maybe Luke could change that. Maybe his face would twist in another way if he had Luke’s dick up his-

Luke was pulled from his thoughts by the movement of students rushing out of their seats around him. Apparently, the professor had dismissed the class. Luke scrambled to his feet as well, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and exiting the classroom. He was on a mission, now, a mission to relieve some of Cal’s _…anger._

How Luke would even gain Cal’s attention again, he didn’t know, which is why he convinced himself that it was fate when he glanced at the bulletin board nailed to the wall at the end of the corridor. Right in the middle of the board was a white sheet of paper, cutely drawn puppies and kittens adorned the edges.

“ _Help Support Our Furry Friends!_ ” it read. “ _Soup dinner in Kearse Hall, Friday, 6PM. Cost $8. All proceeds go towards aiding the Humane Society._ ”

Luke dropped his backpack on the floor and looked around to make sure that no other students were looking his way. He ripped the flyer off of the board and shoved it into his bag. Now, he knew how he was going to enact phase one of his mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can also find me on tumblr at [notcashton](http://notcashton.tumblr.com)! :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so sorry that this took so long to get out. The circumstances that have prevented me from posting this are changing for the better and I am so looking forward to sharing this with you. The next chapter should not take 2 months to get posted...
> 
> Thanks for sticking around!

Were dinner fundraisers fancy? Did everyone dress like rich businessmen? Well, that wasn’t really Luke’s style. He opened up the bottom drawer of his dresser to reveal two stacks of black skinny jeans. Luke wasn’t ashamed to admit that he was probably the only guy in this house that kept his clothes folded neatly instead of thrown carelessly on the floor in the corner of his bedroom. They all looked the same, lying in the drawer, so it took a bit of unfolding and refolding for Luke to find the right pair. Once he found the pair he’d been searching for, he held them up and smiled to himself. They were still just black skinny jeans, but at least these particular ones were free of any holes. Matched with a clean red flannel shirt, though, Luke figured he would be safe. It was ‘casual’, so if the dinner turned out to be just that, great, he would fit in perfectly. And in case everyone else turned up wearing cocktail dresses, Luke could just turn on the classic Hemmings charm and woo everyone past further attire judgment. Besides, everyone on campus already loved Luke. The only person he needed to impress was Calum, and just showing up should accomplish that.

Luke pulled on his clothes and slipped his feet into his Converse. He finished off the look with a black snapback before he sprayed, and maybe over-sprayed, his favorite cologne all over himself. Slipping his wallet into his back pocket and his phone into his front pocket, he swung open his bedroom door and headed towards the front door of the house.

“Whoa, Hemmo, where are you going?” one of Luke’s fraternity brother’s raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

“Um.” There was no way way Luke was going to admit he was going to a fundraiser for homeless dogs to impress a boy. Luke didn’t have to work to get anyone. Psh. “I’m meeting up with someone.”

“You gonna be back for some drinks tonight?”

“Sure,” Luke agreed. He knew ‘some drinks’ meant four other fraternities and all of the sororities would be over, blasting music until 3AM. Maybe Calum would like to come. Maybe Calum would like to see Luke’s room. Maybe Calum would like a lot of things, but Luke needed to carry out his dinner plans first, so he nodded to his frat brother and started his short jaunt to the hall where the fundraiser was taking place.

-

Calum saw him coming in through the glass doors of Kearse Hall. At first, he was just angry because _what the hell was this asshole doing showing his face here after Calum had told him he wasn’t welcome_? His next thought was all about Ashton. Poor, heartbroken Ashton was at the front table taking money. Calum all but ran to Ashton, placing a hand on his roommates lower back and pushing him away from the oncoming fuckboy and towards the kitchen.

“I’ve got this from here, I think they could use your help in the kitchen,” Calum urged.

Ashton smiled gratefully and scurried to the kitchen as he had been directed just as Luke approached the table.

Calum didn’t even give him a glance. He looked down to open the money box and kept his eyes down, holding out his hand to accept Luke’s money.

“Eight dollars.” Calum would normally be a little, well, friendlier. He liked to think of himself as a nice guy, and forcing a smile for a minute usually meant an extra dollar or two donated.

Luke handed him a bill. Calum examined it to see that it was $20, so he put it in the money box and was prepared to get Luke his change. However, Luke gently pushed the lid of the metal box closed on Calum’s hand, making Calum look up in surprise.

“No change,” Luke grinned. And it was a real grin, not his normal smirk that he typically used to land people. He knew Calum was different, and he was going to need a little less of the _douchy fratboy_ that had worked so faithfully for Luke in the past.

When Luke didn’t move, Calum spoke up. “Um, enjoy your meal.”

Luke gestured towards the many circular tables in the center of the large room. “After you.”

Calum gave him a questioning look, eyebrows pulling together.

“Well, you’re joining me, right?”

“Um, no? I have work to do,” Calum snapped, turning around to head to the kitchen so that he could tell Ashton it was safe to return to his post.

“But I paid for your dinner too,” Luke rushed out. He was a bit flustered. Usually his blue eyes were enough to pull anyone in. He’d tried his smile, too, and now he was offering dinner to Calum, who still wasn’t taking the bait.

Calum was tempted to open the money box back up and count out eight dollars to return to Luke, but before he could make the move, Luke was placing a hand on Calum’s bicep.

“I’m sure the money for your dinner will do more for the animals than you standing around for the next half hour.”

“Is everything alright here, Calum?”

Luke jumped at the voice coming from behind him. He turned to see a middle-aged woman in a grey pencil skirt and a purple blouse. She had a shiny metal nametag pinned to her blouse, denoting her as _Molly, Director_.

“Uh, no, Molly. Just accepting a donation from this guy.”

Luke took this as an opportunity to get _Molly_ to back him up and get Calum to eat dinner with him. “Actually, I paid for an extra dinner. I was hoping Calum would join me, if he can take a break from his hard work here.”

“Oh?” the woman raised her eyebrows at Calum. “That was kind of you. Go ahead, Calum. I’m sure we can manage without you for a while.”

Calum narrowed his eyes at Luke as the woman walked away, but he made his way to a table with two empty seats nonetheless.  
 Luke didn’t even have the chance to pull out a chair for Calum, as the dark haired boy quickly seated himself and scooted himself towards the table, the legs of the chair scraping against the floor. Luke took the seat next to him and cleared his throat.

“So, um. You like animals?” _Smooth._

“Yes,” Calum answered, staring at the wall and avoiding eye contact with Luke.

“You do a lot for the humane society?”

“Uh, yeah. Everything I do is for the humane society. When I’m not in class, I’m at the shelter. I don’t have time to fuck over innocent boys with stars in their eyes.”

Luke frowned a bit, not yet understanding why Calum was already so bitter about Luke’s sex life. But as if to answer this question, an arm extended from behind Luke to set a plate of food on the table in front of him. Luke looked up at the server to find it was a guy that had given Luke a pretty mediocre blowjob at a party a couple of nights ago. Luke thought his name was Alan, maybe.

He watched as the guy - Alan? Austin? Aaron? - placed another plate down in front of Calum, and an exchange followed between Alan and Calum. As the server pulled his now-empty hand back to himself, Calum reached up and grabbed his wrist. They looked at each other for a moment, no words being spoken, but Luke could tell a conversation was going on in their eyes. Luke could sense a level of intimacy, one that had to go beyond just being co-volunteers. Alan looked away, and Calum dropped his wrist so that the server could hurry away, back towards the kitchen.

Calum’s gaze fell to his plate and he immediately picked up a roll, taking a big bite out of it.

“You’re friends? With him?” Luke asked.

“With who?” Calum responded, looking at Luke and raising his eyebrows in a challenge.

And, _shit_. What _was_ his name? “Al- Aaron…?”

“Are you fucking joking?”

Calum threw the roll in his hand down onto the table. It bounced once and rolled over into the side of Luke’s plate. He forced his chair away from the table, the scraping noise it made caused Luke to cringe. Calum stood up and looked down at his plate. Luke wondered if he was contemplating whether or not to dump his food over Luke’s head.

“Ashton! His name is Ashton! Yes, I am his friend! I am his roommate! I am the one who had to hold him until he cried himself to sleep because of you!”

Luke kept his eyes on Calum’s face, but he could tell the other people at the table, and probably everyone in the room, were watching them intently.

“Enjoy your dinner,” Calum spat and took off.

Luke stared at the door that Calum disappeared behind for a moment, shocked that the dark-haired boy had just abandoned him. He forced himself to snap out of it quickly, though. He couldn’t let anyone know that this wasn’t _exactly_ what he’d planned.

He decided that since he was already here, he would finish his dinner. He struck up a casual conversation with an older couple that was sitting across the table from him, and once he had cleared his plate of food, he politely asked them if they knew the address of the animal shelter.

 

-

It was extremely quiet at the shelter for a Saturday, although it was never really busy. Unfortunately, there weren’t too many people that were actually interested in adopting a pet.

Calum sat at the reception desk, editing a lab report for his anatomy class. He peeked at the corner of his laptop screen to check the time. He decided that he should wrap up the report and get started on walking the dogs. One of the other volunteers should’ve been coming at any moment to help out, which is why Calum didn’t pay much attention when the door chimed.

“Delivery for Calum Hood.”

Looking up, Calum’s vision was consumed by a bouquet of two dozen red roses. Peeking out from behind them was a delivery boy wearing a white polo shirt with the logo of a local flower shop. Calum stood up slowly and accepted the vase full of flowers. He looked at them in confusion, until a small green card stuck in the middle caught his eye.

_formal first dates aren’t really my forte. how about a second chance? ;)_

_luke xx_

Calum rolled his eyes and flung the card at the trashcan. He thanked the delivery boy and walked the bouquet back to the office that belonged to Molly, the humane society’s director. He told her that they had come for her from an anonymous sender. There was no way Calum was going to accept them from Luke.

He headed back towards the front to return to the reception desk, and he could hear two voices. He smiled to himself, hoping that someone had come with interest in adopting a new pet. The smile didn’t last for long, however, as his body froze in the doorway at the realization of who one of the voices belonged to.

“What are you doing here?” Calum all but shrieked.

“I came to volunteer,” Luke responded, grinning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can also find me on tumblr at [notcashton](http://notcashton.tumblr.com)! :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to those of you who have left me some lovely feedback! I'm so happy to hear that you are getting excited for this story!

Calum clenched his jaw. “We have enough volunteers, thank you.”

“Oh, come on. There’s not such thing.” Luke’s eyes trailed over the desk Calum sat at, as if he were looking for something. “Did you get any delivers today?”

Calum sighed. “Do you want to adopt a pet?”

“No-“

“Then leave. Please.”

Luke brought his eyes back to look at Calum. He kept his gaze on Calum’s face for a moment, before he nodded slowly. “Okay.”

Calum watched Luke leave the building and ran a hand through his hair, causing it to stick up a bit in the front. He looked over at Kara, a volunteer who had apparently arrived when Luke had. She raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

“What?” Calum barked at her.

She shrugged her shoulders but Calum could tell by the look in her eyes that she thought he had been a little rude. She turned and exited through the doorway that led to the dog kennels. Calum followed her, grabbing a handful of leashes on the way.

He hooked two small dogs, a chihuahua and a mutt that seemed to be some sort of chow mix, to the leashes and started his daily walk with them.

-

Luke wasn’t often discouraged, but today, Luke was discouraged. How could Calum hate him so much when he didn’t even know him?

Luke parked his car in the lot and began to walk down the sidewalk towards the house that he shared with his fraternity brothers.

Luke was never one to give up. When he wanted something, he worked until he got it. But, how much was too much? He didn’t want to _harass_ Calum. It wasn’t fair, though, that Calum-

He was pulled from his thoughts as he heard a quiet whine coming from his left side. He stopped walking and listened until he heard the noise again. This time, he was able to determine that the noise was coming from a bush just off of the sidewalk. Luke knelt down and peered under the shrubbery. He saw tufts of brown fur, and wasn’t able to stop himself from ‘aw-ing’ at what he’d found.

He slowly reached out, letting his hand linger in front of the creature so that he didn’t scare it away. Once his hand was close enough, he felt a wet, rough swipe against his finger to confirm that the creature was willing to accept Luke’s help. He reached his other hand out and grabbed onto soft, brown fur. Pulling it into his chest, Luke was able to identify the small creature as a puppy, shaking slightly and looking up at Luke with wide, black eyes. Unfortunately, it wasn’t wearing a collar and therefore, had no identification tag. The puppy let out a whine again. Luke cooed and rubbed the back of his hand over the dog’s head.

“Are you lost, little guy? Or are you a girl?”

Luke lifted the dog to check whether or not he was holding a ‘he’ or a ‘her’. He didn’t see…anything, so he decided he would refer to the puppy as a ‘her’. Luke looked around in hopes of spotting the dog’s owner. There was not a body in sight, except for a couple of boys that Luke recognized as members of a neighboring fraternity. There were only a couple of regular residents in this area, and as far as Luke knew, they didn’t have a new puppy. He felt a bit of panic welling up inside of him. Did someone abandon this tiny animal? Did she run away from home? What if he never got her back to her family? What if dogs could sense panic? Luke tried to calm himself down for the sake of the puppy in his arms.

“Calum would love you,” he told her, which then gave him another idea. “I bet Calum would know what to do with you.”

-

It was 5:32PM. The shelter had just closed, Calum locked the door and returned to the reception desk to pack up his things. He slid his laptop and notebook into his backpack and flung it over one of his shoulders before jogging to the back to quickly tell Molly goodbye.

When he returned to the front, ready to leave and head to Burger King for dinner, he jumped at the sight of a body waiting outside of the door. _Luke._ He stood behind the locked glass door, red flannel shirt wadded up in a ball and held close to his chest. He waved excitedly at Calum with the hand that wasn’t clutching the shirt.

Calum rolled his eyes dramatically, wanting Luke to pick up on his annoyance. He walked up to the door and raised his voice loud enough that Luke could hear him through the glass. “What?”

Luke maneuvered the wadded up flannel until a small puppy’s head was peaking through it. Calum’s heart stopped beating for a solid three seconds before he scrambled to unlock the door. He swung the door open and reached out for the puppy. Luke made sure to brush his hand over Calum’s forearm as he handed the dog off.

“Who are you?” Calum asked the dog, as if he was seriously expecting a reply. He looked up to Luke for an answer.

“Oh, uh. I just found her - she’s a girl, right? I just found her by my place. She was under a bush and she didn’t have a collar and there was no one else around and I don’t think any of the neighbors have dogs? I don’t know if someone was walking her or she got loose from her house or if her mom is a stray and she just got lost… I thought maybe you would know what to do…”

“A cocker spaniel…” Calum observed quietly. “What’s your name, girl?”

She looked up into Calum’s eyes with her own wide, dark eyes. Luke probably had actual hearts for _his_ eyes at that moment, watching the silent communication between Calum and the puppy. Calum scratched her behind her ears and she slowly closed her eyes in a sign of content and trust.

“Should we make posters or something?” Luke immediately regretted interrupting the peace that had settled around them.

“Um, yeah. That’s a start. Take a picture of her and text it to me. I’ll get the printer warmed up.”

Calum walked behind the desk and set the puppy down on it. Luke followed and unwrapped the flannel from around her as Calum pulled his laptop out of his backpack. Luke adjusted her so that she was sitting up. She made a small yapping noise, and Luke made note of the way that it caused Calum to grin. Before Calum caught him staring and called off this whole project, Luke refocused on the task at hand, snapping a picture of the dog from his cellphone.

“What’s your number?” Luke inquired, but immediately added, “You know, so I can send you this picture…” He didn’t want Calum to think that he was trying to make a move. Well, he _was_ trying to make a move. But, he didn’t want Calum to get scared off again.

Calum didn’t seem to notice. He spouted out his number and Luke quickly saved it to his contacts. Luke sent the picture to Calum and leaned over the dark haired boy’s shoulder to see the poster that he was creating. It was simple - “ _FOUND DOG_ ” at the top with Calum’s contact information at the bottom.

“Where did you find her?”

“She was just outside of my fraternity house. I’m in PIKE,” Luke used the nickname for his fraternity.

Calum nodded. He pulled up the text message on his computer and copied the picture of the puppy before pasting it into the document with the poster. He centered the photo and added the extra information Luke had provided. “ _Found near Pi Kappa Alpha house_.” Luke heard the printer fire up, prepared to print out twenty copies of the poster.

“I was about to go get some Burger King. Do you want to grab something to eat with me? We could go put up some of these papers after.”

Luke was surprised, and he looked it, but he nodded before Calum had a chance to take back the offer.

“I mean, it’s not a date or anything,” Calum quickly backtracked.

“Oh. Of course,” Luke agreed.

Luke gathered up the puppy in his flannel again, and followed Calum out to his car.

-

“We need a name for her.”

“Huh?” Calum looked over at Luke.

They were sitting in Calum’s car in the park, overlooking a pond. Burger King sacks were stationed between them, and Luke had the puppy in his lap. Calum leaned over and fed her a french fry.

“I feel bad just calling her ‘her.’ We need to give her a nickname.”

“Well, she likes these hot chips. We could call her ‘Chip?’”

“Chip is a guy name.”

 _“Traditionally._ That doesn’t mean it can’t be a girl name too.”

“Fine. Chip.”

Luke reached into the sack and pulled out an onion ring. He held it down and offered it to Chip, but before she could even open her mouth, Calum was swatting it away.

“What are you doing?” Calum screeched. “Dogs can’t have onions!”

“These probably aren’t even real onions!”  
 Calum narrowed his eyes in a glare.

“Okay, okay! No onions for Chip.” He picked up the onion that had been knocked onto his thigh and poked it into his own mouth.

“What are we going to do with her tonight? I can’t bring her into my dorm…”

“Can you put her in the shelter for now?”

“No. What if someone tried to adopt her when she has a family out there?”

Calum glanced out the window like he was deep in thought. A whine from Chip caused him to look back at her though. He held out one of his fries to her and she happily munched it down.

“Um. I could keep her? Until we think of something else…”

“Really?” Calum looked hopeful.

“Yeah, why not? She doesn’t seem like she’s too much trouble,” Luke smiled down at Chip and gave her a gentle pat on the back.

Calum looked at Luke for a moment with a blank expression. Luke was almost worried.

“We should probably get to work on putting those posters up,” Calum finally spoke.

-

Luke woke at 11AM the next morning to one of his housemates screaming through his bedroom door.

“Luke! There’s someone here for you!”

Luke blinked, eyes adjusting to the light. He sensed a weight on his chest, and upon feeling for the offending item, he touched the soft fur of Chip. She was curled up and soundly asleep. Luke felt bad for having to move her to get out of bed. He threw open the door, still wearing just his boxers that he’d slept in. On the other side was a wide-eyed Calum with a pizza box. Luke watch as Calum’s eyes trailed up and down his nearly-naked body.

Calum swallowed as his eyes met with Luke’s. “I came to check on Chip. And you. I brought a pizza.”

“I wasn’t expecting company…” Luke blushed. He looked over Calum’s shoulder to see a couple of his fraternity brother’s watching the two of them. Weighing the option of having his housemates eavesdrop on them the entire time, or inviting Calum into the privacy of his messy room, he chose the latter. “Come on in. Sorry, about all of this.”

“It’s okay. Formal first dates aren’t really your thing anyway, right?” Calum smirked.

Luke couldn’t contain his smile.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went to my local animal shelter today for inspiration. I swear to you that there was a puppy named Chip...too bad it wasn't a girl. ;)

“I’m not mad!” Ashton insisted.

“Promise?” Calum pouted.

“Yes!” Ashton spun around and placed his hands on Calum’s shoulders. “I’m just worried for you.”

“Ash, I don’t know what happened between you. But, he’s _different._ He’s nice and he’s funny and you should see the way that he looks at Chip-“

“Yeah, he was nice and funny and looking at me like that. And then he got what he wanted and kicked me out. I just don’t want the same thing to happen to you.”

Calum was silent for a moment, pulling away from Ashton and sitting down at his desk so he didn’t have to look his best friend. “I asked him out.”

Ashton didn’t respond at first, either. But, then, “What do you mean? You ‘asked him out?’ Like, you asked him to volunteer at the shelter or-“

“I asked him on another date.”

Ashton let out a deep sigh. _“Calum.”_

“Ash, if you still like him, I’ll back off.” Calum spun his chair to face Ashton again.

“No!” Ashton screeched defensively. “There’s actually… I kind of met someone…”

“What?” Calum jumped to his feet and cleared the space between he and Ashton. “What’s their name? How did you meet them? Are they cute? Nice? Do they play guitar?”

Ashton grinned, biting his lower lip as his cheeks heated up. “Um. Well, his name is Shawn. He is cute and nice, and he does play guitar, actually. I met him while he was on a campus tour yesterday-“

“Wait, he’s still in high school?”

“He’s a _senior_ in high school. Relax, I wouldn’t try anything until he’s going here. But, God, Cal, he’s so nice. And- oh! Holy shit. You have to see this picture he sent me today.”

Ashton pulls his phone out of his pockets and holds it out for Calum to see. Calum reads the text in the grey message box, ‘ _just got back from a run :)_ ’, and then looks at the picture above it. And, okay, Ashton was right. He’s cute. Except, he’s more than cute. He’s shirtless, with these incredible abs that Calum can’t believe any high schooler has. Like, when people use the term ‘six-pack’ to describe abs, this guy must be what they are referring to. And he’s got this friendly, childish smile on his face that is the only thing numbing the doubt in Calum’s mind that leads him to believe that this kid is a total fuckboy.

“Okay, Prince Charming. Be careful you don’t get arrested,” Calum warned as he pushed Ashton’s phone down.

“Calum,” Ashton whined.

Calum leaned in a planted a wet kiss on his friend’s cheek.

_“Calum,”_ Ashton repeated.

Calum laughed and grabbed his backpack from the floor beside his desk. “I have to get to the shelter. I’ll talk to you later!”

“Do you want to get dinner tonight?”

“Uh, actually, my date thing is tonight…”

“Oh.”

They stood in silence, both boys’ eyes wandering around the room. Calum made a move towards the door, but Ashton grabbed his wrist as he did so.

“Hey. Be careful.”

-

As soon as the clock ticked to ‘ _5:00_ ’, Calum was pacing back and forth across the room. Luke was going to be here in thirty minutes to pick Calum up for their date, and Calum’s stomach was full of butterflies, a complete change from how he felt last week.

A man walked through the room with his newly adopted puppy and Calum smiled at him as he left, causing the door to chime.

Molly entered the room, brown purse slung over her shoulder. “I’ve got a meeting, so I’m leaving you to lock up!”

Calum nodded. The shelter didn’t close until 5:30, but he could lock the doors a few minutes early, no one came that late anyway.

“Oh, no! Calum, I just remembered that there is a man coming to pick up a cat today! He’s not able to come until just after we closed, so I told him that there would be someone here to help him out. You could stay, right? It shouldn’t be more than a few minutes after closing.”

“What? But I have…” Calum trailed off.

“What’s that?”

“Nothing. Yeah. I can stay.” He smiled, but as soon as Molly was out of the door, Calum took a seat and put his head in his hands.

Great, his first real date with Luke and he was going to be late. He pulled out his cellphone and dialed Luke’s number.

“Hey,” Luke answered. Calum would swear that he could hear Luke’s grin through the phone.

“Hey, um. Could you pick me up at 6:00 instead?”

“Yeah… Is everything okay?”

“Yes! Something just came up at the shelter and I need to stay a little bit longer.”

“Oh, well, could I help?”

“It’s just an after-hours adoption…” Calum laughed nervously. “Nothing major.”

“Okay. I’ll see you a six, then.”

 

Calum hopped up from his chair at 5:30, flipping the ‘open’ sign to ‘closed.’ A car door shut and Calum glanced out the glass, expecting to see the man coming to pick up his cat. Instead, Luke was approaching. He donned a leather jacket, dark sunglasses, and a black snapback that made Calum wonder how he’d ever managed to get a date with someone like _Luke._

Luke smirked as Calum pushed the door open for him.

“What are you doing here? I thought we agreed on 6:00?” Calum asked in confusion.

Luke shrugged. “I wanted to meet the cats!”

“Okay…” Calum replied with a skeptical smile. “Come on back.”

Luke followed him back to a room full of cats, instantly falling to his knees in front of a large cage holding three calico kittens.

“Aw, oh my God,” Luke practically squealed as the kittens instantly stood on their hind legs, bracing their front legs against the bars of the cage.

“You can let them out,” Calum said, the cats chiming in with quiet _meow_ s.

Luke didn’t need to be told twice, reaching for the clasp on the cage and swinging the door open. Two of the kittens ran straight into Luke’s arms, the other one trotting over to Calum. Luke cooed at them again, and giggled when one of the cats licked at his hand.

“Do you think Chip needs a new friend?” Calum joked, bending down to pick up the feline at his feet.

“No! I’m never going to get her potty trained, I don’t need someone else peeing on my carpet.”

Calum laughed. Luke picked up one of the kittens and held it to his face so that their noses were touching. The dark-haired boy’s laughter faded and blush rose to his cheeks. He was not falling this fast. Right?

The chime of the door opening rang faintly. Calum muttered a “ _be right back_ ” and headed to the front of the shelter. Ashton’s warning from earlier echoed in Calum’s head.

“ _Be careful_.”

-

Once they’d finally got on with their date, hey ended up at a steakhouse, and the rolls that the waitress had offered them were absolutely incredible.

They spent the first moments of conversation with Calum trying to convince Luke that he _needed_ a cat to keep Chip company. Then, they’d moved on to common introductory questions - favorite food (Luke said spaghetti), favorite movie (Calum said Frozen), and of course, favorite color (they’d agreed on red).

“What about celebrity crush?” Luke quizzed.

Calum shrugged. “Dunno, really. Never thought about it.”

“C’mon… Rachel McAdams? Margot Robbie? Chris Pratt? Dude, Scarlett Johansson? Have you seen The Avengers? She was fucking amazing.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Calum mumbled and focussed on the drips of water that were forming around his glass of water.

Luke rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“It’s fine. Um. Emma Watson? She’s brilliant, and she does a lot of cool social work.”

“And she’s hot.”

“Um, yeah. She’s pretty.”

“Sorry, I know this probably isn’t good date talk. I, y’know, don’t do this a lot.”

“No, it’s not that. And you’re doing fine,” Calum smiled to reassure Luke.

“Really?”

Calum nodded and laughed just as the waitress stopped to deliver their meals.

-

“Thanks, Luke. I had a nice time,” Calum stated as Luke pulled the car up outside of Calum’s dorm building, biting his lip slightly and looking down at his lap.

“Me too,” Luke grinned. “There’s, uh, this party tonight, at my place. It won’t start for an hour or two, but you could come and see Chip? And maybe stick around for a drink? If you want to, of course.”

“I’d love to see Chip! But, I have class in the morning… I probably shouldn’t,” Calum answered, looking up at Luke.

“Oh,” Luke’s face fell.

“I’m sorry. I’d really like to-“

“No, it’s cool. I’ll just…see you soon then?”

“Yeah, absolutely. Thanks again, Luke. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Calum.”

Calum slid out of the car and started on his way up the sidewalk towards the doors to the dorms. He’d only taken a few steps when he heard Luke’s car go silent, a car door opening and being flung shut, and a _‘wait!’_ Calum spun around to find Luke jogging around his vehicle and up the sidewalk.

“You’re going to get a ticket for parking there,” Calum warned, but a smile was pulling at his lips.

Luke shrugged. “It’s worth it to walk you up to your room.”

Luke put his hand on Calum’s back and ushered him forward to the building.

“So, Chris Pratt’s your type?” Calum questioned as Luke held the door open for him.

They stepped inside of the building, and then the elevator, and Calum pressed the button to take them up to the fifth floor.

“I mean. When it comes to guys, I think my type has become more…smart, animal lover. But, still badass. Like, he probably has some tattoos.”   
Calum blushed when he realized what Luke was inferring. The elevator dinged, and when the door slid open, the dark-haired boy made his way down the hallway to his room with Luke in tow. Calum pressed his back up against his door and waited for Luke to speak. No words came immediately, though. The two boys stood in silence, taking in the moment and taking in each other.

Luke didn’t ask, but the lean-in was slow enough for Calum to interrupt. Calum didn’t want to interrupt. Their eyes stayed locked as Luke moved forward. His eyes fell closed just before they connected in a gentle kiss. That’s all it was, a quick couple of seconds and a sweet press of their lips, but Calum felt like Luke had sucked the air out of his lungs. His mind was clouded to the point where he almost missed Luke whisper, “Goodnight, Calum.”

Calum watched him walk back down the hallway. The blond didn’t turn back around until he was in the elevator, and Calum didn’t regain control over himself until the door shut and Luke was out of sight.

Calum took a deep breath and pushed himself off of the door, twisting the doorknob and entering his room.

“Are you okay? You look like someone just told you that they were going to pay off all of your student loans,” Ashton remarked from where he was lying in his bed.

“Do you want to go to a party tonight?” Calum skipped the explanation. All he knew was that he had to see Luke again tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I know a lot of you started school this week, and I start back to college tomorrow, so I figure we could all use some Luke with kittens to keep us going. :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are reading this, I love you. <3

Calum cautiously entered the fraternity house, acknowledging the fact that no was acknowledging _him._ That is, until he felt an arm wrap around his waist, a warm chest press up against his back, and a pair of lips graze against the shell of his ear.

“You came.”

Calum smiled at the voice, turning around to come face-to-face with Luke.

“I mean, I came to see Chip, but since you’re here…”

Luke stuck out his bottom lip in a pout, drawing attention to his lip ring. Calum kind of wanted to run his thumb across it, but he knew better.

“Let me get you a drink,” Luke offered, and that’s when Calum caught the scent of alcohol on his breath. It shouldn’t have been a surprise - everyone else here was drunk and grinding on each other or playing beer pong. But Calum was not used to this whole party scene. Okay, Calum had never been to a party involving heavy drinking.

Luke’s grip fell from Calum’s waist and in turn, he grabbed Calum’s hand. He let the blond lead him through the house until they were in the kitchen. Luke rattled off an order to a guy who was leaning up against the counter. Calum noted the various bottles of clear alcohol lined up behind him - vodka, gin, tequila. The man handed a red Solo cup to Luke, who passed it on to Calum. As Luke pulled him back towards the main room where most of the party participants were gathered, Calum glanced at the liquid filling the cup and contemplated whether or not he should drink it.

He finally took a small sip as Luke pulled him down onto a crowded couch. There were already three people on the piece of furniture that was clearly intended for three people _maximum,_ so Calum ended up sitting with only half of himself on the couch, the other half on top of Luke’s left thigh. Luke wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Someone told a joke and everyone, including Luke, broke out in hysterical laughter. Calum hadn’t heard it, though, so he just smiled in attempts to mask how out of place he felt.

Once they had calmed down, Luke turned to look at Calum. “You okay?”

Calum nodded.

“You like your drink?”

Calum looked down at his completely full cup, but nodded anyway.

“I’m glad you came,” Luke smirked and ducked his head to nuzzle against Calum’s neck.

Calum tensed, but a drunken Luke didn’t notice. He placed a couple of open-mouthed kisses against Calum’s neck before Calum pulled away.

“Luke,” he murmured in warning.

Luke paused, but leaned in again to press his lips against Calum’s jaw.

“Stop,” Calum forced through gritted teeth, pulling away again. Caught up in the situation and forgetting about his drink, he dropped the cup. Luckily, no one seemed to notice the concoction soaking into the carpet. Luke looked at him, eyes showing that he clearly did not understand Calum’s rejection.

“Can we talk?” Calum asked, but it was more of a command as he didn’t wait for Luke before bolting up the stairs and towards Luke’s room.

He pushed open the door to reveal the same messy bedroom that Calum had seen when he’d brought pizza. Chip was immediately bounding over to them in glee, but Calum was too concerned about the situation at hand to pay any attention to the puppy. The dark haired boy took a seat on the edge of Luke’s bed and waited as Luke closed his bedroom door again.

“C’mere,” Calum motioned.

The drunken boy smirked again and slowly drug himself across the room to stand in front of Calum. “Not much for PDA, huh?” He pushed at Calum’s chest to knock him back onto the bed, but Calum was already on guard.

_“No._ I need to talk to you.”

Luke sighed and dropped down to his knees. Calum sat back up and looked down at the blond as he laid his head on Calum’s thigh and closed his eyes. Chip jumped up on the bed beside Calum and laid her own head on Calum’s other thigh.

“Luke,” Calum murmured quietly, gently resting his fingers on top of Luke’s hair.

“Hm?”    
“Look at me.”

Luke lifted his head to obey the other boy’s order, causing Calum’s hand to fall away from his head. “Can’t we just make out now and talk in the morning?”

“Luke I-“ Calum cut himself off and paused for a moment. “I’m demisexual.” He looked away from Luke’s face and immediately feared Luke’s reaction. Luke wanted to kiss and have sex and Calum, well, didn’t. Not yet.

“You’re a what?”

Calum looked back down at Luke, his eyes closed and eyebrows pulled together in confusion.

“Demisexual.”

“Like, you only wanna have sex with Demi Lovato?” Luke asked, seemingly serious.

A small smile pulled at Calum’s lips. “No… I only wanna have sex with people after there’s a strong emotional connection.”

“Wait, wait, wait. You don’t like sex? How can you not like sex?”

“No, it’s not- I mean, I like the idea of sex, but I don’t like it with just anyone, y’know?” When Luke didn’t affirm, Calum added, “Okay, so the only time I’ve ever wanted to have sex with someone, I was in love with them.”

Luke still looked perplexed, but Calum knew that any further explanation would go to waste with Luke in this state. He glanced to his left and spotted a mini fridge, gaining the idea that Luke probably could use some water right now to help mend the impending hangover. He stood up and walked over to the refrigerator, Chip on his heels, opening the door and grabbing the conveniently stocked bottle of water.

As he turned around, he noticed two things; one, Luke had pushed himself up off of the floor and was now laid out atop of his bed. Two, out of the corner of Calum’s eye, he caught the light glinting off of something, causing him to turn to the source. It was a picture frame, placed on the desk pushed up against the wall.

Calum picked up the frame and examined the image. There were two men, one was clearly Luke as he didn’t look much different than he did right now. Black wardrobe, hair styled to the point that it didn’t even look styled at all. The man beside him was grinning, easy smile on his pink lips. He wore a denim jacket, his arm slung across Luke’s shoulders, keeping the blond pulled close. And his hair…his hair was blue. It was like, _really_ blue, too - a light blue that reminded Calum exactly of the fairy floss that he used to get when he went to the carnival.

He returned to the side of Luke’s bed and set the water bottle down on the bedside table, holding the photo out to Luke. “Who’s this?” Calum was genuinely curious. He would recognize most of Luke’s frat brothers - they were are pretty infamous across campus. Surely he would know the blue-haired boy if he was a student here.

Luke’s face turned into a scowl as he ripped the picture from Calum’s hand. He slid it between the wall and the headboard of the bed before turning onto his other side so that his back was to Calum. “No one. It’s nothing.”

“Okay… Um, you should drink this water.” Calum reached down to scratch behind Chip’s ears as a farewell. “I- I’ll talk to you later.”

“Wait! Calum.” Luke was turned back around, facing Calum in an instant. His eyes were wide and faked sobriety, but the music still pumping through the house made it impossible to forget that Luke was still not in his right frame of mind. “Can I… Can I kiss you?”

Calum pursed his lips and looked away from Luke’s eyes. “Not tonight.”

**Author's Note:**

> You can also find me on tumblr at [notcashton](http://notcashton.tumblr.com)! :)


End file.
